Guardian Cryptic 27,662 by Enigmatist

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Very tough, even once the grid filled up – several unfamiliar expressions and a lot of tricky parsing. Favourites 1ac, 21ac, and 18dn. Thanks to Enigmatist.

Across
1 SCOTCH BONNET Might one deliver a kick to stop bishop surfing? (6,6)
“kick” as in spice
SCOTCH=”stop” + B (bishop) + ON NET=”surfing” the web
8 PIAZZAS Quattro Formaggio and Hawaiian one cuts into squares? (7)
PIZZAS=”Quattro Formaggio and Hawaiian”, with A=”one” cutting in
9 WASHPOT Is no longer sexy, taking pee in cleansing vessel (7)
WAS HOT=”Is no longer sexy”, taking in P=”pee”
11 REDPOLL Labour election flyer? (7)
=a bird, or “flyer”
RED=”Labour” + POLL=”election”
12 SEEPAGE Notice chap at wedding making escape (7)
SEE=”Notice” + PAGE=”chap at wedding”
13 CHEFS He, locked in by me, capitally does the job in kitchen … (5)
HE, inside CFS=Chronic Fatigue Syndrome=Myalgic Encephalomyelitis=ME=”me, capitally”
14, 16 MR POT MEET MRS KETTLE … hypocritical extramarital introduction there? (2,3,4,3,6)
=an expression used in response to hypocrisy
cryptic wordplay refers to the extramarital MR and MRS who are kitchen items, since “there?”=”in kitchen” from 13ac
16   See 14
19 SIGHT Seeing a great deal (5)
double definiton
21 QUARTET Still life’s second item replaced by painting group (7)
QUIET=”Still”, with the second letter/item of “life” replaced by ART=”painting”
23 EVACUEE One’s got out a stick to prod the First Lady (7)
A CUE=”a stick”, inside EVE=”the First Lady”
24 ENDGAME Supply aged men when one seeks a mate (7)
“mate” being a way to end a game of chess
(aged men)* with “Supply”/’supple-y’ as the anagrind
25 EXPLOIT RAF retiree’s one moving, heroic deed (7)
EX-PILOT=”RAF retiree”, with the I=”one” moving position
26 A MUSICAL JOKE What does one get when one crosses an angry jackal with an eccentric mouse — 7? (1,7,4)
=”7?” – a loose [mis]interpretation of ‘OPERA COMIQUE’; and the surface is set up as a JOKE
A Musical Joke is also the name of a satirical/comedic composition by Mozart [wiki]
I=”one”, inside (jackal)* with (mouse)*
Down
1 SWADDLE Wrap with some lamb sandwiches (7)
W (with) sandwiched inside SADDLE=a cut of meat=”some lamb”
2 ODZOOKS A blast from the past, old sanctions supporting Dutch in Australia (7)
=an archaic euphemistic oath
O (old) + OKs=”Sanctions”; all after D (Dutch) in OZ=”Australia”
3 CASH LIMIT Corruptly claim this set restriction on finances (4,5)
(claim this)*
4 BOWLS Takes over game on green (5)
double definition – the first definition is as in ‘takes their turn bowling an over in cricket’
5 NO SWEAT Rather large women slicing tidy piece of cake! (2,5)
OS (out-size)=”large” + W (women); both inside NEAT=”tidy”
6 EXPIATE Make up for first of indiscretions admitted by old head (7)
first letter of Indiscretions, inside EX=”old” and PATE=”head”
7 OPERA COMIQUE Reformed Cream harbouring old, old anger about Tom Jones? (5,7)
Tom Jones is the name of an opéra comique [wiki]
O (old) + PIQUE=”anger”, going about all of: (Cream)* around O (old)
10 TWENTY TWENTY Normal broadcasting of cricket scores (6-6)
Triple? definition: ‘twenty-twenty’ is “Normal” vision; ‘Twenty20’ is a form of cricket; ‘twenty’ is a score so ‘twenty twenty’ is “scores”

not sure if “broadcasting” is meant to be part of one of the other definitions, or maybe be a fourth def?
15 PIECEMEAL Church divides pasty supper, maybe using salami tactics (9)
“salami tactics” involve weakening opposition bit by bit [wiki]
CE (Church of England) inside: PIE=”pasty” + MEAL=”supper”
17 STARDOM Being sluggish getting into part repeatedly reduced great actor’s status (7)
TARDY=”Sluggish” inside SOME=”part”, with both parts of the wordplay being “reduced”
18 ENTRAPS Gins stocked up by business partner (7)
a ‘gin’ is a snare or a trap
Hidden reversed/”stocked up by” businesS PARTNEr
19 SHAMPOO Clean a drum up finally — then set about to beat it (7)
final letters of A druM uP, with SHOO!=”beat it” set around them
20 GLUCOSE Sugar hit cut in size (7)
COSh=”hit” with the last letter cut, in “size”=a weak GLUE used to stiffen paper or fabric
22 THEIC Thaw’s apparently started being too fond of a drink (5)
=specifically, too fond of tea
THE IC[e] is disappearing, so “Thaw’s apparently started”

64 comments on “Guardian Cryptic 27,662 by Enigmatist”

  1. This was indeed very tough but I do enjoy a challenge, so thanks for that, Enigmatist.  13,14 & 16 ac were definitely my favourites, despite my wasting a lot of time thinking of the musical connotation of kitchen.

    Your early blog was appreciated, manehi –  a second opinion was very much needed today!

  2. Great workout and thanks for the CFC/ME-the answer was obvious but…..

    I didnt even think kitchen in kettle and pot-looked at the crossers and thought of it as a CD.

    Think I’ll read Finnegan’s Wake next-must be easier than some of the Inkys

    Thanks E and manehi.

  3. By gum, he does make you work hard for your cruciverbal pleasure.   Lots to enjoy mixed with lots of head-scratching.

    Thanks to Enigmatist and manehi

     

  4. Thanks Enigmatist and manehi

    Sorry, I didn’t enjoy this at all – too many entered from definition, guess and check, and wordsearches. A lot of the wordplay and definitions were very loose – “some lamb” for SADDLE, for instance.

    1ac was favourite, even with that loose definition!

  5. Thankyou manehi. Bravo. I didn’t solve all without assistance,  but tickled to get the ones I did, and enjoyed every one  on reflection.  Very clever, very entertaining, and wonderful variety of clue constructions.

    I haven’t counted but I’m quessing it’s a pangram with the usual suspects JKQXZ

     

  6. muffin@4 saddle of lamb is getting a bit pricey so I made do with a home made piazza for dinner-but it wasnt square.

    and thanks paddymelon @5-so blinded by Enigmatology that I didnt even look for xtras.

  7. Crashed again, this time on 26a. Surprised to get the rest right, and by the end my brain was hurting so much that I failed to re-read the clue and link it to 7d: consequently, I bunged in ‘musical note’ unparsed.

  8. Thank you Enigmatist for a very challenging puzzle and manehi for a most helpful blog.

    Favourite clue, and third in after getting BOWLS and NO SWEAT, was that for SCOTCH BONNET.  I failed to parse CHEFS and THEIC !

  9. After a toughish but breezy week, I came a cropper with this; brilliant but relentlessly awkward and frankly quite irksome! Fun in hindsight, but not having heard of so many definitions it felt more like an AZED than a Guardian cryptic. Didn’t know or had forgotten 1ac and 2dn so was struggling from the off. 22dn I found impossible and 4dn too loose. 5dn my favourite surface and definition. Thanks Enigmatist and Manehi. I am chastened!

  10. Thanks to Enigmatist and manehi.

    From the crossers in 19d I thought of the drum as oompah and bunged shampoo from that without bothering to parse it.

  12. Too hard for me, a couple I couldn’t parse let alone solve, so thanks for this. But some clever clues all the same. Never heard of “size” as a type of glue before.

    10d: I think “broadcasting” goes with “cricket” since, as you say, the form of cricket is rendered Twenty20, so it’s a sounds-like to get it to TWENTY-TWENTY.

  13. copmus@ 2: it’s “Finnegans Wake” (no apostrophe – that’s the song). Absurdly difficult puzzle, by the way.

  14. I think the ‘Rather’ is needed for the parsing of 5d, ‘large’ on its own would give L, ‘Rather large’ being an under-statement?

  15. I thought opera comique was a bit of a stretch for Tom Jones which is a comic opera by Edward German I saw once as a boy in an amateur production .  But I now discover there is an actual opera comique by someone called Philidor –  how on earth is one supposed to know that?  La Belle Helene or Orpheus in the Underworld would have been kinder.  If one didn’t use aids (as one can’t in a Genius) this was about as hard as the average Genius, many of which have recently become easier …

  16. Thanks manehi for the much-needed elucidations. Maybe too many convoluted clues to call this truly enjoyable, though much to admire. For example, CHEFS I guessed at from the definition; the wordplay? Never in a million years…

  17. As 14 across was so integral to the puzzle, and an expression I hadn’t come across before, I had to give up I’m ashamed to say. Even though Chefs had to be the answer to 13 ac, interpreting ME as CFS was too obscure. Too tough for my taste today…

  18. Thanks both,

    I quailed when I saw who the setter was but did a lot better than I expected. I needed to look up ‘theic’ and don’t quite believe the parsing. OTOH I can’t think of anything better. A thoroughly enjoyable tussle. Couldn’t parse chefs either, and a couple of word searches, but otherwise quite satisfied with my attempt.

  19. Thanks Enigmatist; great but very difficult puzzle.

    Thanks manehi; I’ve never heard of the extramarital introduction, although it was fun. CFS and ME no problem for me, though.

    I particularly liked the surfing bishop.

  20. Really enjoyed this with just a few petty quibbles on the way, I thought that ‘some lamb’ was weak for a cut that can come from a number of animals and that 10 had gone off track somewhat (omitting either cricket or scores would have improved it).

    In a curious coincidence I was recently in a conversation concerning mountweazels and theic was offered as a candidate (being an ostensibly old word that only appeared in very modern dictionaries), it took a lot of searching to find examples of actual usage.

    Many thanks to Enigmatist and manehi.

  21. Never heard of the pot’n’kettle expression or Tom Jones as an opera, comique or otherwise. As for the parsing of CHEFS and THEIC…
    I did like the surfing bishop though.

  22. [Robert @ 20, that is interesting, I had not heard the word mountweazel before, but a cousin of mine was here last week, a patent examiner, and told me how non-existent streets are sometimes put into maps as a copyright trap.]

  23. Thank you manehi for explaining 13: quite legitimate. Further chess reference to go with 24ac: André Danican Philidor composer of Tom Jones was also the world’s leading chess-player of his time. THEIC in its modern use is presumably a back-formation by analogy with alcoholic. Is there caffeic? Should be.

  24. I said a couple of weeks ago that we were about due for an Enigmatist, and am happy to leave the blog in your capable hands, manehi. was mystified by the CFS in 13A, and put in the answer from the crossers and definition – for which I suspect the intention is ‘does the job in kitchen’, giving CHEFS as a verb (not in Chambers, but it is in Oxford online).

    I agree with gordon mcdougall @15 that Tom Jones (Philidor or German) is an obscurity too far, although I can see why John chose it.

    Much thanks manehi and Enimatist.

  25. Too contrived for me. I managed to finish the puzzle, but it was laborious and devoid of pleasure. Personally, I don’t get a lot of satisfaction from finding the word and then trying to see how the clue matches the solution. I’m ‘good’ at seeing the potential for words to fit the space with a few crossers in place. This is a skill, but it’s the ‘cart driving the horses’ and doesn’t equal the pleasure of working out the clue to ‘come up with’ the answer.

  27. Thanks to Enigmatist and manehi. Overall too tough for me and left with half a dozen unsolved. Gave up after staring at those clues for an hour and getting nowhere. Never heard of 1a or the pot and kettle saying, 22d, 7d and 2d, therefore do not feel too bad and enjoyed what I could solve. There is always tomorrow and thanks again to Enigmatist and particularly to manehi for putting me out of my misery.

  29. I remember the last Enigmatist I did and therefore looked forward to another enjoyable challenge. Unfortunately, though, I was defeated – more by my lack of knowledge than anything else. I had solved some cracking clues and was eager to get more of the long answers. However, I couldn’t solve SCOTCH BONNET (an excellent clue) or A MUSICAL JOKE. Worse than that, I have never heard of the phrase OPERA COMIQUE (although it’s obvious what it is) – nor did I know that Henry Fielding’s story was made into one. Finally (in this tale of woe), I have never heard of the phrase MR POT MEET MRS KETTLE: I had most of the crossers for that and assumed POT and KETTLE would go in those places, but I had to leave it there.

    I may well have got further if I was prepared to do more looking up, but I think I would still have fallen short.

    Of the clues I did solve, I particularly liked TWENTY-TWENTY, EVACUEE and EXPLOIT, all of them in the first corner I tackled. I too wondered about ‘broadcasting’ in 10d.

    Thanks to Enigmatist for such an ingenious puzzle and to Manehi for the blog.

  30. Hmm, long time since I last tackled an Enigmatist and I think that was a retire bruised with just a few done. Today, an hour yielded a half-dozen or so, but with a bit of scratching I nearly got there, minus the comic opera, the quartet (damn, not that hard), and theic. So, coming along (like our cricketers, yay!). Thanks E and M.

  31. PS: put ‘chews’ (crossword setter) at 13a, tho I knew it was more dining room than kitchen, but the ME/CFS connection was way beyond….

  32. Far too enigmatic to be enjoyable for me. The 14,16 solution is a manufactured phrase created just to fit and could never be solved from wordplay. And what’s hypocritical about in any case?
    Also “gin” is a noun, ENTRAP a verb How can you “gin” something?

  35. Manehi, I do not envy you your task of blogging Enigmatist who was in his cruel mode. My northwest corner was incomplete and I could not parse a few others until I came here to end the agony. Thanks to the both of you

  36. I missed Tom’s comment @12 when posting mine @29.  I agree that ‘broadcasting’ Twenty20 gives you TWENTY-TWENTY, so that makes three clear definitions.

  38. Well here’s a first. After about half an hour … 24a ENDGAME – my OOI. Only one in.  Unlike peter lawson @26, I am not a word spotter and rely heavily on bottom-uppering, but was equally underwhelmed.

    And if cricket terms are to be used, then it would be fairer to use them correctly. The taking of overs is done by batters, not bowlers (who take an end).

  41. VW @ 38

    I can well envisage a captain saying to bowler B “I need bowler A to switch ends, so you take the next over and I’ll put him on at the other end for the one after that”.

  42. [Simon @41

    Wouldn’t the captain have to say that to bowler C – bowler B will have just completed an over 🙂 ]

  44. JohnB @43

    I remember Bunthorne with affection (and not just because he came from Burnley!). He often defeated me, but he also made me laugh.

  45. The ‘pot and kettle’ phrase suggests the old saying ‘the pot calling the kettle black’, which is about criticising someone for your own faults, so hypocritical.

    I didn’t guess it though. Great puzzle, very tough.

  46. muffin @ 42. Not necessarily. A could be moving to C’s end, with B coming back into the attack to facilitate the swap.

  47. Thanks Enigmatist, Manehi

    There’s been a couple of fairly anagram-heavy Enigmatists in the last few, which tends to make things easier.  Hardly any here – maybe that accounts for the difficulty, because I thought aside from a few mind-benders most of the clues were Perfectly Normal.  What’s more I got most of them from wordplay (how else could one get ODZOOKS?) so would have to disagree with the dissatisfied bottom-uppers.

    For 19d I had an unexplained scarper for a while ‘to beat it’.  Shoo isn’t ‘to beat it’ is it?  Just beat it.

    Muffin@42 ha, ha  (though the absence of bowler B in a two-bowler scenario might have seemed perverse too)

  49. James @47

    I was interested to hear that you got most of the clues from the wordplay, unlike some commenters who found the clues generally less susceptible to that approach.  I agree with you.  More than in any other crosssord this week or last week I have used the wordplay to get the answer, or sometimes part of the asnwer, from which the full answer is more easily found.  My first three (ENDGAME, EXPLOIT and EVACUEE) came that way, and GLUCOSE was the first that revealed itself from the definition and the crossers.

    Coincidentally also, I thought SHAMPOO, with the crossers S-A P–, had to be SCARPER.  I was a bit disappointed that ‘to beat it’ was not the route to the answer: ‘beat it’ was.

  50. Many thanks manehi for explaining everything. I got nowhere! Perhaps I might have done if I had a few extra hours. Very impressed with both puzzle and blog.

  51. Well I picked a cracker for my first stab at the Guardian! After meeting and experiencing the art of our setter a couple of weeks ago I suspected I would find it a bit testing. And indeed I did. Defeated in the end by SHAMPOO (which I should have got) having dismissed SCAMPER and SCARPER as not fitting the wordplay, and THEIC, which even the aid I tried failed to find. But I had lots of fun along the way. DNK CFS or “size” as a sort if GLUE and had to deduce the pot and kettle thing. ENDGAME my favourite. Thanks Engimatist and manehi! I think I’ll be back.

  53. I’m a bit confused by 2 down. Given in the clue that ‘Dutch’ was in Australia, I put the letter ‘D’ between the first ‘O’ and the ‘Z’ for Oz (Australia) but the ‘Check this’ button rejected the ‘D’ (twice). Then when the actual answer was put in the grid accepted the ‘D’ between the O and Z.
    This is not the first time that the ‘Check This’ button has failed. I have spotted several times that inserting letters into the grid have been rejected by the system only to be accepted when the full answer is inserted! Interesting! Software bug perhaps? Great crossword tho’.

  54. Peter Lawson – contrived in too many cases. Yes, and this is why we miss Araucaria. But there was still much to enjoy, so thanks both!

  56. I spent a half-hour on this (first the acrosses then the downs) and, having solved nary a clue, found that I had no way into this puzzle. When my brain sees Enigmatist, it assumes every clue is going to be either extremely intricate, or require obscure specialist knowledge, or most likely both, and it overheats. The only solution is to give up, and hope for a doable prize puzzle tomorrow.

    Thanks manehi for the excellent blog.

  57. Van Winkle @ 48. Batters do not take overs; they face individual deliveries. If singles (or 3s) are scored, a batter does not face all the deliveries in the over. Bowlers do take overs — the captain might say “I’ll give you three overs from this end before lunch”, or similar.

  60. jetdoc @57 – in the long-forms of the game, batters will take overs, by planning deliberately not to score singles or threes so that (eg) the right-hander faces the off break bowler.  Your own hypothetical cricketers appear to be arguing against you, with their talk of taking ends.

  61. Going for the last post again…. We were pleased to discover people thought this was tricky – that’s our view, and it required two brains plus a bit of guesswork – though we managed to finish it!. We got 21 because we thought we needed all the letters in the grid and “q” was missing. Liked 1a which was almost last; though we’re working with “bazooka” for two down for a while. And we also liked 9a when we realised how it worked! Looking forward to an Everyman tomorrow…. Thanks Manehi & Enigmatist – and Manehi, I didn’t envy you blogging this one!
    P. S . Team finally managed a win on Friday….

  62. I thought this was a tour de force with the pangram tipping me over the line with the F and Q.
    It’s as if Enigmatist knows the order in which we will solve it.
    Thank you Manehi and bravo to the setter.

  63. Ghastly. 14,16 was the worst example of a “read my mind” clue, and the solution to 26 is an instrumental work, not a goddamn opera.

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